Totally The One
by Dancing in the Minefield
Summary: The first time Annabeth saw the new kid, she was not impressed. But since he was supposed to save the world, she figured she'd better go along to make sure he didn't screw up. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

The first time Annabeth saw the new kid, she was not impressed.

She'd seen so many demigods straggle into the camp during her time here that she'd nearly given up hope for finding the one that would finally, _finally,_ get her a quest. But still, the first comment out of her mouth was, "He's the one. He must be." Chiron had immediately shushed her and made her bring him inside.

He had collapsed just across the boundary line, and had to be dragged to the Big House. Annabeth had been at Camp Half-Blood for five years at the time, which was long enough for her to fall into the habit of waking from sleep whenever some kind of commotion occurred, even if it was in the dead of the night. So of course she was the one that was put on babysitting duty, just because she was one of the first ones to get to the new kid. So not fair.

* * *

><p>When the new kid woke up for the first time, Annabeth immediately bombarded him with questions. She'd heard things about something powerful that had been stolen, and a deadline at the summer solstice around camp, which was a couple weeks away. In the demigod world, this was not a long time at all.<p>

It occured to Annabeth that he might not know anything, because he seemed to be a powerful half-blood. Even if he drooled in his sleep. She figured it was worth a try, but his responses were less than satisfactory: "What?" and "I'm sorry, I don't . . ." Then she had to stuff his mouth with pudding because Chiron was coming.

Whenever he woke up on her watch again, either Argus or Grover (or both) were there, so she couldn't do much except scrape drips of ambrosia off his chin and ponder things. Annabeth was there when the kid finally walked around; she saw Chiron introduce her to the kid, whose name was apparantly Percy Jackson. Percy saw her look at the Minotaur horn that he was holding, and had something like a hopeful expression on his face. If he did, the hope was quickly dashed by her comment: "You drool when you sleep."

Percy looked anxious to change the subject after that, but she'd already taken off.

* * *

><p>Annabeth was waiting for him and Chiron in front of Cabin Eleven, where he made a complete fool of himself as soon as Chiron left. This only boosted her first impression of, <em>Gee, I've seen better. <em>After she saved his sorry butt from his new cabin mates, Percy proved himself even thicker than she first thought:

"Look, if the thing I fought really was _the_ Minotuar, the same one in the stories . . ."

"Yes." _How slowly does your brain work?_

"Then there's only one."

"Yes."

"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So . . ."

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up." _I feel like an idiot. I can't believe I thought you were the one._

Annabeth was almost thankful when Clarisse showed up. She was less thankful when she was drenched from head to toe in toilet water, courtesy of Percy. He was standing there kind of shocked, and she guessed she had a similar expression on her face. The thought that was running through her head now was, _Well, _maybe _he's the one._

* * *

><p>When Friday night rolled around, Annabeth had to use nearly every ounce of her self-control to stop herself from bursting out laughing at the sight of Percy in his Capture the Flag attire. She purposely stationed him along the creek, in full view of the enemy team, just to see if her suspicions could be confirmed. After all, Athena always, always had a plan.<p>

Through the game, she kept one invisible eye trained on him, ready to watch if anything unusual happened. When Clarisse came exploding out of the bushes yelling, "Cream the punk!" Annabeth wasn't surprised, but she backed up to a safer distance. She saw Percy fall into the stream, then all of a sudden knock out all the Ares warriors – while still in the water . . .

When the hellhound came and went straight for Percy, Annabeth's suspicions were confirmed a little more. When he was claimed by Poseidon, there was no room left in her head for doubts anymore - he was the one that would get her a quest. She was sure by now that he was the one of the prophecy, too. Finally, an opportunity to prove herself – to Chiron, to the camp, to her _mother. _There was just the problem of him being a _son of Poseidon._ By default, she was supposed to hate him.

This made her very, very confused – a feeling she wasn't used to, and didn't like.

On the quest, Annabeth was absolutely mortified when Percy told her to go on the 'Thrill Ride of Love' with him at the abandoned water park. But she figured it was okay, as long as Percy didn't try to make anything of it.

The embarrassment was brought back times ten when she freaked out with the metal spiders – in front of Hephaestus's cameras, too. Annabeth was relieved that Percy had forgotten about it (mostly) until Grover nearly ripped her arm out of her socket because she undercalculated the force and they flew over the chained gates when their boat crashed into it. But she figured it was okay, though, because landing hard on the other side of the gates was better than having your brains knocked out through your ears by crashing into them.

When they were riding in a truck on the quest, Percy was thick-headed enough to ask whether or not things would line up like the Trojan War; Athena against Poseidon. She wasn't sure herself, but Annabeth knew that she'd fight next to him, alongside her friends – because that's what friends did.

And because he was totally the one. Um, of the prophecy, of course. Duh.

**Well. If you think this is trash (which I did when I reread it) I suggest you skip to the fourth or fifth chapters. I'm not expecting reviews for this particular chapter anyway, seeing as it's this suckish.**


	2. Chapter 2

Annabeth was not a stalker.

Just because she was checking on Percy on the morning of his last day of school invisibly didn't make her a stalker. Following him around at his classes didn't make her a stalker, but she was flattered that he kept a picture of her in his notebook.

Then he blew up the school.

He _blew up_ the _school._

Annabeth wanted to slam her head in a wall, but there were more pressing matters at hand. Namely, the baby Cyclops Percy'd picked up somewhere. She hated the one-eyed monsters; they brought bad memories.

She shivered.

* * *

><p>After Annabeth found out about Thalia's pine, she and Percy were introduced to the new activities director, Tantalus. They rushed to see Chiron before he left, and he made Annabeth promise to keep Percy out of trouble. She had no idea how she was going to do that.<p>

It ended up involving sneaking out of camp, confronting Luke, and not being eaten by patrol harpies. It was sad that Annabeth had predicted something along those lines would happen.

When they'd finished running (or sailing) away from Luke, Annabeth discovered Percy's human compass abilities, Monster Donuts, and how much Clarisse liked blowing things up, including them. By the time Clarisse had finished, Annabeth was floating on a lifeboat from a zombie ship, drinking Dr. Pepper and trying to come up with a plan. Oh, and Percy was there, too. Then they washed up on the island of Circe, who tried to make Annabeth a sorceress (and a shrew), and succeeded in turning Percy into a rodent.

He made a cute guinea pig.

When they escaped _that_ (with Percy back as a human), Annabeth told Percy about the island of the Sirens.

"I want you to do me a favor. The Sirens. . . we'll be in range of their singing soon." _Please, please, please don't understand. You'll jump overboard and die. I'll try not to, but still. . . _She didn't usually try to make people not understand her logic, but this was a special case.

"No problem," Percy said, "We can just stop up our ears. There's a big tub of candle wax below deck -"

She interrupted. "I want to hear them."

Percy blinked. "Why?" _He's confused. Good._

"They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what's so enchanting. If you survive. . . you become wiser. How often will I get that chance?"

Percy didn't look like he got it, but he reluctantly nodded anyway. _Thank you._

Being the daughter of Athena, you could see how that was appealing to her. What she didn't realize was how strong the temptation would be – the temptation of what they sang about.

When they reached that black, craggy island, what Annabeth saw wasn't a black, craggy island with half-human, half-vulture creatures perched on the rocky beach. She saw Athena and her dad on a blanket in Central Park, waving and beckoning her toward them. She had redesigned New York, a grander and better New York built from gleaming white marble. And she had turned Luke back to her side. He was sitting next to her parents, smiling and laughing.

She'd done everything she'd ever dreamed of. But there were ropes holding her back. And Percy had put them there. How could he? He was supposed to be her friend. No friend was that cruel.

She waited until he wasn't looking, and cut the ropes and jumped. He couldn't get in her way now. Her head was held up, watching Luke and her parents. She'd be there soon.

Then all of a sudden there was water – water in her mouth, her eyes, choking her and breaking the Sirens' song. She started fighting.

The grass of Central Park turned into black sand that blended with the dark water. She could only barely make out the shape of mines floating in the salty water, and barbed wire that her foot nearly caught on. But what really caught her attention was the person holding her underwater. Percy.

Her head broke the surface of the water, and the faces of her parents and Luke flashed across her vision before they disappeared into the murky depths of Siren Bay. This time, Percy held her under long enough for her to start running out of air. He looked panicked, whipping his head around to look for something. His earplugs were still in, but she was too preoccupied with breathing to note how ridiculous he looked again.

The next thing she knew, she was in an air bubble that was big enough wrap around herself and Percy. Then she realized she couldn't hear the song anymore. She started sobbing. She didn't know what Percy felt, but she was reassured that he held her and let her quietly cry it out.

She was so lucky to have him. It didn't matter that much, at the moment, whether he was just a friend, or anything else; she had him, and that was the important thing.

When she'd recovered from the lure of the Sirens' song, Annabeth met the flesh-eating sheep that kept the Fleece safe from people like her and Percy. There was another reason Percy was here, which was to rescue Grover. If it hadn't been so scary that Grover had to go to such lengths to disguise himself, Annabeth would've laughed at the thought of her other best friend in a wedding dress.

She was fine with rescuing Grover and everything, but she hadn't counted on getting dropped on her head while wearing her invisibility cap. The whole point of a thing that made you invisible was that you couldn't be seen, therefore you shouldn't be knocked out while wearing it. Annabeth cursed herself for not factoring in the possibility that Polyphemus had learned to target by sound since Nobody had stabbed out his eye. Then she blacked out.

Percy must have gotten the Fleece, because she came around with something heavy covering her. Within a minute or so, she felt perfectly healthy. Then she tried to stand up, and felt like somebody had sucker punched her in the gut with an iron ball. She lay back down.

She got off the island all right, but then Clarisse, the knuckleheaded daughter of Ares, had to yell insults at the Cyclops when they were already on the ship. Then Polyphemus threw a really big rock, and sank the ship. They were all just lucky that Percy had a something else to save them with, because otherwise they'd be corpses at the bottom of the Sea of Monsters by now. It was also thanks to Tyson, the baby Cyclops. She guessed they weren't all bad.

Just before she fell asleep on the hippocampi, she heard Percy whisper, "You're a genius," in her ear. She smiled.

* * *

><p>"Percy!" <em>The Greek fire!<em> He shoved the tip of his sword under the sparking pouch and flipped it into the Hephaestus chariot. It exploded, shredding the Hephaestus chariot just as Annabeth pulled their chariot across the finish line – in first place.

Even through the noise of the crowd, Annabeth made herself heard, because she owed someone something: "Hold up! Listen! It wasn't just us! We couldn't have done it without somebody else! We couldnt have won this race or gotten the Fleece or saved Grover or anything! We owe our lives to Tyson, Percy's -"

"Brother!" Percy finished. "Tyson, my baby brother." Annabeth smiled and kissed his cheek. The cheering rose even higher in volume.

Afterwards she wasn't quite sure why she did that, but she figured it was because he earned it. And because, y'know, he was totally the one.

** *cringes* I'm planning on rewriting this and the first chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**My dear dear readers! You poor literature-deprived people! Fear no more, for I have returned from my untimely neglection!**

**Never mind.**

Sitting in the snow next to Thalia on Half-Blood Hill, Annabeth decided that she hated Percy.

Here she was, freezing her butt off while waiting for his mom to give them a ride for a rescue mission, and the stupid son of a sea god had the nerve to be _late._ She shivered from the cold.

"Why aren't you cold?" she asked Thalia through slightly chattering teeth. Thalia only laughed.

"I stood out in the wind and rain for seven years, Annabeth. This is nothing compared to that. Although to be fair, I didn't really feel it."

"I'm freezing."

"Yes, and you want that steamy son of a sea god to warm you up," Thalia said with a slightly manical grin on her stupid freckled face.

"The ocean is freezing at this time of year too."

"You still _liiike_ him. You want to cuddle with him. You want to – " Annabeth cut her off.

"Then the only reason I would be warm would be because my _long-lost best friend_ shoved me in a tiny car next to my other best friend who just so happens to be a guy."

"At least you'd be warm."

Percy's mom chose that moment to pull up at the bottom of the hill. Thalia started dragging her down the slope, and shoved her in the back seat of the car.

With Percy.

Annabeth decided she hated Thalia, too.

Percy seemed eager to see her, and after the car ride to Westover Hall he seemed more eager to get out of the car – and away from Ms. Jackson's embarrassing baby stories. Annabeth frowned; she got the vibe Percy didn't want his mom worrying about him. She thought that he should've been grateful that his mom was there for him.

"It's okay, Ms. Jackson. We'll keep him out of trouble."

* * *

><p>Annabeth never had been one for dances. Sure, she'd gone to a couple, and danced at one or two of them, but at least she knew how to dance. Unlike Percy.<p>

"Dance, you guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there." Annabeth supressed the urge to roll her eyes.

Percy looked around at the mobs of girls roaming the gym, then back at her. "Um, who should I ask?"

She punched him in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain."

"Oh. Oh, right."

Annabeth found out that Percy could dance just about as well as Grover, and Grover was a satyr. He looked way too nervous for a high school dance, but considering they were half-bloods, nervous was the very old normal.

She told Percy about her dad's new job in San Francisco. He obviously didn't understand why San Francisco was particularly dangerous for demigods, but he was making an effort. Annabeth was about to tell him something personal, that she usually would never tell anybody (because there weren't many people who qualified as somebody she could tell), and she was almost relieved when the two powerful half-bloods they were there to rescue, Bianca and Nico, disappeared, along with Thorne.

Somewhere along the way between the gym and the front of the school, Percy got separated from her. She started worrying.

Annabeth ended up tackling Percy to the ground to save his sorry butt from being shot with a poisonous thorn. Plus for a variety of different reasons of varying degrees of importance. And after that . . .

* * *

><p>Falling off a cliff was bad. Falling off a cliff riding a monster that was trying to kill you was worse. But falling off a cliff riding a monster that was trying to kill you and then being kidnapped by your former other best friend definitely took the prize.<p>

_I'll get out of this mess._

The wind ripped through her jacket.

_We're gonna die._

She wasn't dead. Luke was there. On the black mountain . . .

_Percy will come for me. He's the one._

The sky was crushing her. She was alone under it.

_How could you do this to me?_

The laughing hurt her ears.

_I will hold up the world. I'm not going to die. I won't DIE!_

It hurt so much . . . She could breathe again.

_Who . . . ?_

Luke had a sword at her throat. She could see a Hunter, Thalia, Percy.

_Artemis._

She was gagged.

_Percy. RUN!_

He did the stupidest thing of his life. He charged Atlas.

He took the sky.

She had to admit that as stupid as it was, it was brave.

* * *

><p>Annabeth was more than relieved when the Olympian council decided not to incinerate Percy. She was happy for Thalia, too. Annabeth figured that she'd join the Hunt someday; she deserved some peace. But Percy had been stuttering and stumbling when Artemis announced she needed a new lieutenant:<p>

"Annabeth. Don't."

"What?" She frowned.

"Look, I need to tell you something," he looked like he was going to puke over the side of Olympus. "I couldn't stand it if . . . I don't want you to –"

"Percy? You look like you're going to be sick." What was going on? It was just Thalia joining the Hunt, right?

Oh.

_Oh._

Well that was sweet. Annabeth inwardly smiled.

He was most definitely totally the one.

**I'd like to remind you all that for most of the Titan's Curse, Annabeth was being imprisoned, hence the shortness. I'd also like to remind you that the next chapter contains the kiss, therefore being fluffy. Feel free to die if you must.**


	4. Chapter 4

Annabeth was pissed, to say the least.

First, her movie almost-but-not-date with Percy was off because he blew up a school (again). She hadn't been in the best of moods before they'd arranged their afternoon together, because her family still blamed her for the monster infested spring they'd spent together in San Francisco, camp was getting more vulnerable by the minute, and now she found out Percy burned up the music wing of his new school.

Joy.

And to top it off, there was that redheaded mortal, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who Percy apparantly knew from last winter, who also saved his now really sorry butt from getting ripped to shreds by she-demons.

It really didn't help that they knew each other.

"You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?"

"She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did."

"So you told her the truth."

"She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so -"

"You've met her _before_?" And you didn't tell me?

"Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her." Okay. Okay. Just . . . calm down.

"She's kind of cute."

"I – I never thought about it." There we go. Much better.

Annabeth still decided not to look at him. "I guess our afternoon is off. We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you." _Tsk, tsk. _I'm disappointed.

She put it out of her mind.

* * *

><p>Percy looked surprised (which was normal) and confused (which was also normal) when Annabeth told him that she had to meet Clarisse as soon as they got out of the taxi. She felt a little bad about leaving him at the hill, but she ignored it. There would be plenty of time for apologies later. Right now she had to get to work on the Labyrinth.<p>

The next morning, Annabeth didn't bother waiting until after to tell Percy her theory about the Labyrinth. So she did the natural thing – she sat at the Poseidon table.

Well, maybe she just wanted to be with him. But at least with the Labyrinth theory, she had a reason. Even though Percy didn't seem to appreciate the risks she took.

"You're not supposed to be here," he said.

"We need to talk," Annabeth insisted.

"But the rules . . ." Yeah, I know I'm not a rule-breaker, but come on! This is important!

"Look," she said, a little irratibly, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."

Eventually Percy caught on. Knowing she was pushing the rules a little too far, Annabeth went back to her table, feeling like she'd at least accomplished something – she'd both taught something to Pecy (which was normal) and not gotten threatened by Quintus's sausage cutting dagger for breaking the rules (which wasn't normal, but good).

* * *

><p>"Percy Jackon with Annabeth Chase!" Quintus finished the list of pairs.<p>

"Nice," Percy grinned at her.

"Your armor is crooked," she said, and redid his straps. They started off into the woods, following the scuttling tracks of some multi-legged monster.

They reached Zeus's fist. Scuttling noises came from the woods in all directions. Unknown monsters surrounding somebody will make somebody really jumpy, which was why they nearly cut off Juniper's head when she said "Hi" right behind them.

Annabeth wanted to slap him upside the head at his answer to Juniper's questions of whether they were busy: "Well, we're in the midle of this game against a bunch of monsters and we're trying not to die." It was obvious (to her, at least) that Juniper was distressed.

The nymph talked with them for a while, wringing her hands agitatedly. She was dead set against Grover going underground, but Annabeth was dead set against Juniper being dead set against Grover going underground. It was the only way for Grover to find Pan in time before his searcher's license was revoked.

Suddenly Juniper shrieked, "Hide!" and poofed into green mist. Turning around with a sinking feeling, Annabeth understood why:

Three out of the six monsters had come after them.

Considering Annabeth wanted to live older than fifteen, she fought. But even with Percy at her side, the odds were against them.

Percy stepped against a crack between two boulders barely wide enough to not squeeze them as flat as parchment. Annabeth sliced at a scorpion, then looked at him like he'd gone psycho.

"_In there?_ It's too narrow."

"I'll cover you. Go!" Oh, so now he was covering her like she was incapable?

Well, it was sweet. She ducked between the boulders, and stepped onto open air. Surprised, she snatched at Percy's armor straps, and managed to pull him down with her.

They stood in an underground space that stretched off into invisibility in front and behind them. Or, as Percy put it, "It's a long room."

She gripped Percy's arm. "It's not a room. It's a corridor." Percy started forward, but if Annabeth was right, that was a dangerous – and potentially insane – choice. "Don't take another step. We need to find the exit." She was starting to panic. Memories . . .

Trapped in a dark corridor . . . lost . . . seven years old . . . _cyclops!_

Annabeth gave a shuddering breath and tried to relax herself. Percy gave her hand a squeeze. "It's okay," he promised. She calmed a fraction at his voice. "It's right -" He paused, looking around for the crack they'd fallen through.

It had disappeared. Her theory was confirmed.

She gripped Percy's hand harder. She'd never been one for public displays of affection, but here, in a shifting maze, surrounded by magical architecture shrouded in the darkness, she could use a little comfort.

"Two steps back," Annabeth said. They stepped backward like a centimeter off balance would blow them up – which was more than likely.

"Okay. Help me examine the walls."

"What for?"

"The mark of Daedalus," Annabeth said, like she expected him to remember every Greek myth she'd ever taught him, which she knew he wouldn't. But she thought it might make at least a little sense, because it was the maze in which the Minotaur was imprisoned, and the bull-man was his first monster, and – oh, never mind.

"Uh, okay. What kind of –"

"Got it!" Annabeth exclaimed with relief. She pressed the Greek symbol Δ, which glowed blue. A section of the roof rumbled open like a sliding door, and rungs melted out of the walls. The sky was much darker now than it had been when they'd fallen in. Time moved faster in Labyrinth.

They climbed out of the passage Luke was looking for – the invasion route straight into the heart of the camp.

* * *

><p>Finally, finally, after seven years, Annabeth had her own quest to lead.<p>

It just so happened that this particular quest was insanely dangerous – literally.

She was about to travel in an endless maze designed to drive a person insane to stop her former idol and best friend from destroying the only sanctuary for all half-god people in the modern world. The idea was almost laughable. Almost.

To top it all off, Percy seemed almost reluctant to help her with the quest. He _knew_ that she was the best person to lead it. He _knew_ she knew the most about the Labyrinth. He _knew_ exactly what they were facing if they failed, and yet he still chose to argue with her.

What was wrong with him?

It was probably that mortal girl, Rachel Dare. The perky redheaded 'friend' of Percy's stretched her nerves to no end. Annabeth knew why, but stubbornly didn't face it.

The prophecy wasn't much consolation either. _And lose a love to worse than death?_ Not exactly the motivation one hopes for when they're about to travel in an endless maze designed to drive a person insane to stop her former idol and best friend from – wait, hadn't she already been over this?

If Annabeth was insane enough to bring four people on a quest, then the Labyrinth posed no threat to her.

She needed a plan.

"Knock, knock?" Percy asked, stepping into her cabin. She turned around, startled.

"Oh . . . hi. Didn't hear you."

"You okay?" He was concerned.

Annabeth frowned at the scroll, as if willing it to make sense. "Just trying to do some research. Daedalus's Labyrinth is so huge. None of the stories agree about anything. The maps just lead from nowhere to nowhere."

"We'll figure it out," Percy promised. She could almost feel him looking at her.

"I've wanted to lead a quest since I was seven," she said, hoping for – something.

"You're going to do awesome." That was Percy with his blunt way of comforting her.

Annabeth gave him a grateful look, but then turned back to the mess of scrolls and books she'd pulled from the shelves for last-minute research. Doubt settled in. "I'm worried, Percy. Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to do this. Or Tyson and Grover."

"Hey, we're your friends. We wouldn't miss it."

"But . . ." But what if you get killed on this quest?

"What is it?" he asked. "The prophecy?"

"I'm sure it's fine," she said in a small voice. Dear gods, now she sounded like a complete pansy.

"What was the last line?"

Pansy or not, she blinked back tears (which she absolutely hated) and put out her arms.

Percy looked surprised for a moment, then stepped forward and hugged her. He was warm, and he smelled like the ocean. And chocolate chip cookies.

"Hey, it's . . . it's okay." He patted her back. It was a small gesture, but comforting.

"Chiron might be right," Annabeth murmured, shivering. "I'm breaking the rules. But I don't know what else to do. I need you three. It just feels right." Kind of like you hugging me.

"Then don't worry about it," he got out. "We've had plenty of problems before, and we solved them."

"This is different. I don't want anything happening to . . . any of you." Especially you, Percy.

* * *

><p>Somehow, between appeasing Hera, breaking out Briares from Alcatraz, rescuing Nico from being barbecue dog food, Percy scooping acres of horse poop, throwing a printer at a Sphinx that insulted her intelligence, not freaking out when she had to follow a metal spider, and basically surviving the Labyrinth with her sanity intact, Annabeth wound up in a volcano on an errand to buy a way to Daedalus from Hephaestus.<p>

It wasn't a particularly nice volcano. The heat was unbearable, even in her thin, worn T-shirt, and there were monsters crawling about wherever they looked. Not to mention the bane of the gods was imprisoned under her feet, most likely about to wake up and destroy them in a couple years' time, if they were lucky.

Arriving at the middle of the volcano, Annabeth turned invisible and went off to scout around. She hoped Percy could handle being on his own for a couple minutes. Any chance of that was completely blown when Percy came charging out of the side of the cavern, yelling her name.

"Shhh!" Still invisible, Annabeth pressed a hand down over his mouth and pulled him down out of sight. "You want to get us killed?"

He found her head and took off her Yankees cap. She purposely scowled as she turned visible. "Percy, what is your problem?"

"We're going to have company!" He explained the monster orientation class quickly.

"So that's what they are," she said grimly. "Telekhines. I should've known. And they're making . . . Well, look." She pointed out the four sea demons in the center platform, growling about fusing metals.

After a brief explanation about the telekhines' betrayal, Annabeth decided they had to get back to Hephaestus. They'd done their scouting job, and she wasn't going to endanger either of their lives any further.

"We have to get out –"

Suddenly the door to the monster orientation class exploded, and young telekhines flooded out, stumbling over each other.

"Put your cap back on," Percy said. "Get out!"

"What?" she shrieked in horror. "No! I'm not leaving you!" His flaw would get them all killed! He would try to save her, and then . . . and then . . . She couldn't bear to think about it.

"I've got a plan." Oh, no, not a Percy plan. "I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider – maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!" This was exactly what she'd been thinking before the quest, in her cabin. She couldn't lose him, another person closer to her, after her dad, after Thalia, after Luke –

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice," Percy said, almost calmly. It was like he planned on dying.

Annabeth glared at him. She wanted to punch him – for insisting she go, for being the hero, for wanting to keep her safe. Oh, gods, the heat must be messing with her logic. But the least she could do was make him remember her. She kissed him.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." Her voice almost cracked on the last syllable. She put on her hat and invisibly made her way back to the entrance of the cavern. She touched her fingers to her lips, looking at Percy fighting the sea demons, then turned around, silently praying to the gods to keep him safe.

* * *

><p>Camp looked the same.<p>

The sea looked the same.

The sky looked the same.

The campers did too, at first.

But Cabin Three didn't.

She expected him to come out of it every morning, running because he was late for breakfast. She expected him to close the door every evening after saying good night to her. She expected him to make a panicked sprint for it because Silena Beaugard was the inspection counselor and everyone knew he was no neat freak.

He wasn't there.

He wasn't there.

He wasn't there.

She couldn't understand it, and if there was anything she hated most, it was not understanding. Two weeks was enough time for even Percy to come back, right?

Wrong.

Every day, she walked out of the cabin with shadows under her eyes, her hair hastily brushed and tied into a messy low ponytail, fiddling with her knife, as though she could attack whatever was preventing him from coming home. She was like an automaton – she walked, she spoke, she fought, but she ate the bare minimum for sustenance, she didn't sleep, she only responded when someone addressed her directly. Save curfew and meals, she perched on a rock on the beach or on Percy's bed in Cabin Three.

After half a week had passed, she started dividing her time down to the second between the sword arena and the Poseidon cabin. When breakfast finished, she walked emotionlessly to the arena, where campers soon learned to stay out of her way. When she'd bested every person brave enough to face her, she turned to the dummies.

A stab for Hephaestus, who sent them on a suicidal mission.

A gutting for the metal spider, because she hated it.

An unattached head for Daedalus, who built the Labyrinth.

A slice through the heart for Kronos, who forced them through it.

A slit on the face for Luke, who betrayed her.

A slash on the leg for Thalia, who wasn't there for her right then.

A decapitated dummy for Percy, who had the nerve to not return to her.

She sank to her knees and felt the tears stream down her cheeks, seeing horrible images no one else could see dance in front of her.

Percy would come back. He had to. And if he was dead, she was marching down to the Underworld and dragging him back.

* * *

><p>Annabeth knew that Percy screwed up a lot of things. Capture the Flag, being normal, rescue missions, protecting Western civilization – the usual.<p>

She'd never dreamed that he could screw up his own funeral.

" –assume he is dead," Chiron said, his face downcast. "After so long a silence, it is unlikely our prayers will be answered. I have asked his best surviving friend to do the final honors."

In short, Annabeth was announcing to the world that Percy Jackson was dead.

She took his shroud, a beautiful green silk burial cloth, embroidered with a trident, and fed it to the flames. That was it. He was dead. Now she had to plan how she was going to drag him back from the Underworld.

Annabeth watched the last of the green silk disappear in fire, and began speaking. She felt all eyes on her. "He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He . . ." She looked up, and felt the blood rush to her face. "He's right there!" Chiron cantered through the crowd, but Annabeth decided that politeness wasn't especially important when a "dead" friend was standing right in front of you, and shoved her way through the campers.

"Well," Chiron sighed with relief, "I don't believe I've ever been happier to see a camper return. But you must tell me –"

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" she interrupted, hugging him fiercely to make sure he wasn't an illusion. "I – we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!" she caught herself.

"I'm sorry," Percy said in his usual oblivious manner. "I got lost."

"LOST? Two weeks, Percy? Where in the world – "

"Annabeth," Chiron interrupted. She was glad, because she had a good idea where in the world Percy Jackson could get lost for two weeks – on a certain island with a certain inhabitant she'd rather not think about with Percy in the equation. She turned her attention back to the newest problem.

* * *

><p>She had to accept <em>help.<em>

From a _mortal._

From _that_ mortal.

Now she was back to pissed.

The stupid perky redheaded _friend_ of Percy's kept them waiting in front of the Marriott Marquis for twenty minutes while she stood frozen on a tarp, looking like she'd gotten the Midas treatment.

Annabeth wished she _had_ gotten the Midas treatment. Then she'd be happily standing as a gold statue, unable to bother her and Percy.

"Maybe if we push her over," she suggested after a while. If Rachel heard her, she didn't respond. After a couple more minutes, a kid in silver walked up and posed next to Rachel. She unfroze and walked toward them, grinning like a loon.

"Hey, Percy." Rachel was still grinning like a loon. "Good timing! Let's get some coffee." Good timing? Rachel probably wasn't good with math, either. As soon as they sat down in the smoothie place, she and Rachel got off on the wrong foot: "So, it's Annabell, right?"

"Annabeth. Do you always dress in gold?"

"Not usually," Rachel said airily. She went off on a long and dull explanation about raising money for art programs and stuff, ending with a loud announcement to the whole café about them being half-bloods: "Hey, everybody! These two aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

Rachel sat down. "They don't seem to care."

"That's not funny," Annabeth said spitefully. "This isn't a joke, mortal girl."

Percy intervened again. "Hold it, you two. Just calm down."

"I'm calm," Rachel insisted stubbornly. "Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?" Considering the rate at which Percy was attacked by monsters, Annabeth didn't like the amount of time her calculations said Rachel was spending with him. Her dislike of the readhead grew.

"Look," Percy said apologetically, "I'm sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."

"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked innocently. Percy interrupted before she could get her answer. He told Rachel about the Labyrinth, and how he and Annabeth needed to find Daedalus. Basically, he spilled about every single problem the demigods had right now.

Rachel glanced at Annabeth suspiciously. "_You_ need my help?"

Annabeth stirred her smoothie resentfully. "Yeah," she said sullenly. "Maybe."

Percy explained about clear-sighted mortals. Rachel looked back and forth between him and Annabeth. "Okay. I'm in."

She sure was enthusiastic about helping Percy.

Annabeth hoped that killing her dignity was well worth what they would get with Rachel as a guide.

* * *

><p>It was the final battle of the Labyrinth. Annabeth wasn't worried.<p>

Why?

Because she was fighting with Percy at her side.

Whatever life threw at her – Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Daedalus's treachery, the death of a god, the twists of the Labyrinth – she could survive it. With Percy at her side, there wasn't a battle that she fought that they couldn't win.

Because he was totally the one.

**To justify the bashing of Rachel in this: Remember, this is all from Annabeth's point of view, and at this time, she doesn't like Rachel because she thinks Rachel's a threat to her relationship with Percy. It's not until the end of The Last Olympian that they become friends.**

**I warned you about the fluff. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Time flies when you're busy kicking idiots in the shins. My apologies.**

Annabeth needed a lot of things, but at the moment, she was desperately in need of another pencil.

Why?

Because she'd snapped every last one of them through either anxiety, agony, or frustration. And because Perseus Jackson, her supposed best friend, was hiding from his problems with _that mortal_ instead of facing them with her. Of course, _she_ had to be the one that was always pulling him back in line, instead of him using his stupid fatal flaw and sticking with her like he was supposed to. Where was his personal loyalty when she needed it?

The mission to blow up Luke – no, _Kronos's_ – monster-infested cruise ship should have started this morning. But _of course_ Percy had to go running off with his mortal _friend_, and Annabeth sincerely hoped that Beckendorf got Blackjack to give Percy a good kick in the face when they started the mission, though she guessed that Blackjack would never do that. Even if she didn't speak horse, she got that the pegasus pretty much idolized Percy by observing them. She was a daughter of Athena. She did those kinds of things.

Annabeth circled around the cabin, ruffling her bedsheets in a vain attempt to find a pencil that wasn't splintered in half. Aimlessly slapping the pockets of her jeans and shoving her hands through the curly mess of her hair, she finally gave up trying to plan by herself and went to find Malcolm.

By nightfall, Percy and Beckendorf weren't back yet, and Annabeth paced along the dark beach, restrapping her bronze armor and tying her hair again and again.

She'd timed the practice rounds he and Beckendorf had done, and at the very most it had taken one and a half hours. On the actual mission that day, Beckendorf had left camp at three in the afternoon, and judging by the speeds Blackjack could reach, weighted down by two demigods in bronze armor but probably with a sea breeze to boost him, they would've gotten to the cruise ship in fifteen minutes at the most. Minor setbacks like having to destroy monsters and stuff on the way to the engine room would've delayed them for a maximum of half an hour if there were a lot of them.

All that calculated, they should've been back two hours ago.

Annabeth had given her best estimate for the location of the ship, and it was probably out of sight if someone such as herself was looking from the beach. The smoke from the explosion would've been tossed away by the breeze blowing away from camp, so she had no way of knowing how the mission went.

She went over the possibilities. Best case scenario: They'd blown up the ship, and Percy had gotten them to shore alive but far from camp and were on their way back. Worst case scenario: They'd been caught before managing to explode the ship, gotten eaten by monsters, and Kronos was on his way to New York completely undamaged.

Watching the last of the sun's rays disappear under the cold blackness of the ocean, she prayed to all the gods she knew of that they'd make it back alive and okay. The camp couldn't afford to lose two of their best fighters, and Annabeth couldn't afford to lose Percy.

* * *

><p>It was a huge blow to the camp.<p>

Annabeth hadn't really been that close to Beckendorf, but he was good at listening to and understanding her plans, and even better at forging the things that would make her plans work better. Now that he was dead . . . She only gave herself a couple minutes to mourn; she and Percy were the leaders of the camp now. If she got bent out of shape, they were all dead.

She did allow herself a couple more minutes to be happy that Percy was alive. Slightly charred and much more serious than he usually was, but alive nonetheless. And he still managed to take away her usual eloquence.

"I'm glad you're not dead, Seaweed Brain."

Exactly.

"Thanks," Percy said, his face showing a mixture of sadness, confusion, and maybe eagerness. "Me too."

Of course, her moment of relief was completely ruined when Percy announced he had to see the Great Prophecy. But Annabeth had to hand it to him; he took the news pretty well considering he now knew he was most likely going to get his soul reaped. If it was her in Percy's place, she'd probably would have . . . well, she wasn't sure what she would have done, but it wouldn't have been pretty.

Any newfound respect for him was utterly crushed when he brought up Rachel.

They stopped by the tetherball courts on their – her – inspection rounds. Percy cleared his throat, looking apprehensive. "Annabeth. Listen, I had this dream about, um, Rachel . . ." Annabeth listened intently, brow furrowed and eyes hard, as he described the dream. When he finished, he looked at her expectantly, like she was going to be happy knowing that he had been dreaming about _that mortal._ As if.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, staring at the rip in her scroll.

When he spoke, his voice was almost pleading. "I'm not sure. You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what would you do next?"

"I'd use Typhon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West."

"Just like in Rachel's picture."

Annabeth kept her voice tight so as not to make a deragatory comment about Rachel. "Percy, Rachel is just a mortal." _Accept that fact and move on! We need you here, Seaweed Brain, not obsessing with _that mortal_. _Her inner voice was much more colorful in describing Rachel than what she voiced.

"But what if her dream is true?" _What if it isn't?_ "Those other Titans – they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of Luke as a kid –"

Somehow, despite his good nature and (currently wandering) loyalty, Percy still managed to push her to her breaking point.

"We'll just have to be ready."

"How?" Percy asked, looking at her. She couldn't decipher the things flickering in his eyes. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."

Annabeth threw down her scroll. It always had to be about him, didn't it! "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy. All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."

Percy stared at her, stunned. "_Me_? Run away?"

"Yes, you. You're a coward, Percy Jackson!" she said in his face, hoping that he got the double meaning in her words and that it stung.

She could see it in his eyes that it did.

"If you don't like our chances, maybe you should go on that vacation with Rachel." The words flowed out of her mouth without her thinking about it, which she hated. Percy was one of the few people that could get her to stop thinking, but this time it wasn't in a good way.

"Annabeth – "

"If you don't like our company."

"That's not fair!" _Life's not fair, Percy. I learned that the hard way. You should too._

She shoved her way past him and punched the tetherball as she stormed by, not feeling better in the least.

* * *

><p>How the heck had he disappeared?<p>

He couldn't go past the borders, he couldn't go through the Labyrinth, he couldn't shadow travel, and still Percy freaking Jackson managed to vanish into thin air.

And it was only seven in the morning.

Annabeth stamped out of her cabin, ruffling her notes angrily and muttering to herself. "Seaweed Brain . . . _Idiot!_ Cowardly . . . Stupid mortal . . . Where in Tartarus . . ." She went on to describe anything she could think of with language that would've made a small furry animal run away in terror.

Last night, after their argument, Annabeth had gone to the Poseidon cabin after Percy didn't show up for dinner. But he hadn't been in his cabin, nor had he been at the beach. Annabeth had convinced herself that he probably just needed some time to cool down, and after three hours of restless sleeping, she'd gotten up again and snuck out to cabin three with her Yankees cap.

But Percy wouldn't have taken half the night to cool down, would he? Because he wasn't snoring away in his bunk when she'd checked up on his cabin at midnight.

He wasn't eating breakfast right now, either.

She was officially worried now.

Holding the notes three inches away from her nose, Annabeth tried to focus on the plans for their latest seige. Suddenly getting a burst of inspiration, she stood up, picked the papers out of her morning orange juice where she'd accidentally dropped them in, and sprinted to the forge.

"Jake!" she said as soon as she'd yanked open the door. She sprinted over to Jake Mason, who had taken over leadership of the Hephaestus cabin.

He turned around, surprised. "Hey, Annabeth. You should be at breakfast."

Annabeth waved his concern away. "You should be too, but neither of us are. Where's that magic shield Beckendorf made?"

A flash of sadness passed over Jake's face at the mention of Beckendorf. "It's on the wall, top left corner of the shield section. Why?"

"Percy's gone," Annabeth replied shortly, her voice masking the panic welling up in her as she scanned the wall Jake had pointed out. She pulled over a stool, climbed on it, and unhooked the polished bronze shield.

Jake did a double take behind her. "What do you mean, Percy's gone?"

"He didn't show up to dinner last night, and he wasn't in his cabin. I didn't see him at breakfast just now either, and it's pretty hard to miss him." Annabeth set the shield on one of the tables, Jake coming over to look over her shoulder.

As soon as she set it down, the reflection in the polished metal swirled from metal contraptions and leather harnesses on the ceiling of the forge to flashing visions of cloudy skies, an impossibly tall and ugly monster, and the reflective surfaces of various skyscrapers across the United States. Annabeth even thought she caught a glimpse of Hawaii before it was swept away.

She focused on Percy's face, his green eyes, messy black hair, his cute lopsided grin. The shield spun through scenes until it finally rested on . . . nothing.

"That can't be right," Annabeth muttered frantically. "The shield shows everything. Percy can't have vanished off the face of the earth!"

"Actually, Annabeth," Jake interjected, his tone nervous, "it shows everything under natural light. So if Percy isn't dead, he's got to be somewhere where there's no . . . natural . . . light . . ." He faltered as they came to the same conclusion.

"He's in the Underworld," Annabeth whispered. "Oh, gods, why would he be down there? Somebody's taken him."She started pacing, tugging on her ponytail. "Percy would never go there willingly; he _hated_ it on our first quest!"

"Whoa," Jake said, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. What can we do?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I don't know. We can't Iris-message the Underworld. We can't spare anyone to go on a rescue mission. The only thing we can do . . ." She blinked hard. "We wait."

"He'll be okay, Annabeth," Jake reassured her.

"Thanks, Jake," she said, staring into the nothingness the shield stubbornly showed her. "I have to go."

Jake nodded understanding as she remounted the shield on the proper hook and trudged out of the forge, mumbling possibilities and curses under her breath.

* * *

><p>Annabeth hadn't really seen the curse of Achilles in action before, but Percy's demonstration was awe-inspiring. She decided that she could forgive him for running off to the Styx without telling her. His new monster-fighting abilities totally made up for it.<p>

He was a demonic whirlwind, his bronze sword like a deadly bronze disc from the speed with which it hacked and slashed. Hellhounds dissolved into pools of darkness. _Dracaenae_ exploded into grainy dust. Anything and anyone in his way that they called an enemy was instantly destroyed. Annabeth's knife was only a shorter version of Riptide as she vaporized monsters left and right and in front, fighting back to back with Percy.

As the monsters fell, Kronos's demigod allies gradually took their place. She noticed Percy slowing down with his fighting, wounding the enemy instead of just flat-out killing them. _No! You can't show mercy here!_

Suddenly, Annabeth felt the air around them _shift_, in a way.

_Something's wrong._

In half a second, as she caught sight of a black eye patch under bronze, everything went wrong.

_PERCY!_

Pain exploded in her shoulder as Ethan Nakamura's poisoned blade struck her instead of Percy. Even as her consciousness slipped away, even as she collapsed into her best friend's arms, some small part of her brain documented that she'd just somehow saved Percy's life.

Then the world went black.

_Something burns . . ._

"Percy?" she mumbled, not really awake. There was warmth on her hand.

"Shhh," a soft voice said. "You need rest."

She gladly did as it told her and slid back into a restless sleep.

When she came around for good, she was lying on a lounge chair outside on the terrace of the Plaza. Layers of blankets covered her, but her skin was clammy and her shoulder was hurting so badly she nearly passed out again. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay conscious. Her siblings looked on worriedly.

"Percy!" she heard a voice exclaim, followed by a dull clap. "We're getting reports –"

"Later," Percy's voice replied, sounding anxious. "Where's Annabeth?"

"The terrace. She's alive, man, but . . ."

She heard a scuffle as Percy pushed his way onto the balcony.

He stared at her with pained green eyes, his face pale and tight. "Annabeth . . ." His voice cracked.

"Poison on the dagger," Annabeth mumbled, attempting a weak smile. "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

She gripped his fingers as Will Solace cleaned out the wound with nectar. Then the demigods slowly trickled back into the hotel, leaving her, Percy, and Silena on the terrace, who left after a bit of sniffing and a new resolve to convince Clarisse to join the battle.

Percy knelt next to her when they were alone, pressing his hand against her forehead. His fingers felt cold, although whether that was because he was scared out of his wits for her or whether she was feverish, she couldn't tell. Probably both.

Deliriously, she noticed his face. "You're cute when you're worried," she muttered. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together."

Percy's cheeks turned a little pink. "You are _not_ going to die while I owe you a favor," he ordered her. "Why did you take that knife?"

Annabeth wasn't sure herself, so she gave the best answer she had. "You would've done the same for me."

A million different emotions flashed through his green eyes. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

Percy looked around warily, as though looking for eavesdroppers. He leaned close to her and whispered in her ear, his breath cool against her feverish skin. "My Achilles spot. If you hadn't taken that knife, I would've died."

So that's what her instinct had been warning her about. Annabeth stared off into the distance, imagining what could've happened if she hadn't been there. She didn't like what her brain came up with. "I don't know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where . . . where is the spot?"

She was asking something huge. If Percy trusted her with his secret, she'd be . . . what would she be? The decider of his fate? The person that timed his death? She didn't like either of those options.

Percy hesitated for the tiniest fraction of a millisecond, then breathed the answer confidently. "The small of my back."

Annabeth summoned her strength and lifted her hand to his back. "Where? Here?"

She gingerly put her hand on his lower spine. Percy moved her fingers to the spot on his body that kept him grounded and mortal. She could almost _feel_ the tingling of his skin coursing through her fingertips.

Even after she brought her hand away, Percy's warm fingers wrapped firmly around her frigid ones.

"You saved my life," he said, his tone spilling everything he couldn't put into words. "Thanks."

That was her Percy and his blunt way of saying emotional and touching things.

"So you owe me," she said feebly. "What else is new?"

As they watched the eerily silent New York City sunrise, she read the answer in Percy's face: _We'll live to find out._

She couldn't agree more.

* * *

><p>Stupid, STUPID<em>,<em> idiotic, moronic, half-baked, mindless, foolish fire-headed mortal GIRL!

_Annabeth_ was the one that had taken the knife for him. _Annabeth_ was the one who had been at his side through the years. _Annabeth_ was the one that had constantly put up with and protected Perseus stinking Jackson, and now his _friend_ had to show up in a bright obnoxious red helicopter!

And guess what _Annabeth_ had to do.

Yeah: Fly the bright obnoxious red helicopter to save Rachel Elizabeth Dare from being smashed into a grease spot against a skyscraper. Annabeth could check that off her daily to-do list now.

She repeated the list of derogatory adjectives in Ancient Greek under her breath, each word getting darker as she went on.

It only made her feel a little better, watching Rachel run inside the building like a wimp, but leaving the demigods to do all the dirty work.

"I'll take the drakon," Percy said weakly. Then he cleared his throat. "I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON! Everyone else, hold the lines against the army!"

Annabeth pulled her owl helmet low over her face, shielding her red-rimmed eyes. Standing next to Percy didn't feel so great anymore.

"Will you help me?" Percy asked.

"That's what I do," Annabeth replied miserably, refusing to look at him and staring at the drakon instead. "I help my friends." She couldn't help the undertone of sarcasm that decorated her words.

She kept waiting for Percy to say something, hopefully reassuring her that Rachel was an annoying brat that kept showing up randomly, but of course it never came.

Slash, hack, slash, hack, tackle Percy to keep his head from being the drakon's appetizer, slash, hack.

Even that wasn't as terrifying as what came next.

Letting the poison-corroded Ares helmet roll away in the pitted pavement, Annabeth stared down at Silena Beauregard as she breathed her last story.

"All my fault," Silena choked out, a tear smearing the grime and burns on her face. "The drakon, Charlie's death . . . camp endangered –"

"Stop it!" Clarisse demanded brokenly. "That's not true."

Silena opened her hand to reveal a silver bracelet. Dangling from it was a scythe charm – the mark of Kronos.

"You were the spy," Percy whispered.

Jerking her head in a feeble nodding motion, Silena rasped out her confession. "Before . . . before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so . . . charming." That Annabeth could agree with her on. "Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised . . . he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt . . . Charlie. He lied to me."

_He lied to me._

It felt like she was falling. She'd known it was the truth, of course, but when it had been happening to her – was happening to her right now – it hadn't been real. But hearing someone else's story revealed on their deathbed . . . The blood drained from her face. She felt nauseous.

_He lied to me._

He . . . Annabeth thought of a different _he_ this time. A _he_ with green eyes instead of blue, black hair instead of blonde.

She met Percy's eyes.

And she vowed that this _he_ wouldn't let her down like the other one.

* * *

><p>Kronos turned and smiled through Luke's face. Except for the golden eyes, he looked just the same as he had all those years ago at camp, training her to fight with a knife, sitting under Thalia's pine, floating on the canoe lake and eating jelly beans. The memories tumbled into her mind, and she made a painful sound in the back of her throat at the force of it. She felt like a Party Pony paintball had socked her in the gut.<p>

He and Percy exchanged some insults and threats. One of the words stuck, and suddenly an old memory overwhelmed her.

_ "It takes a clever warrior to use a knife. I have a feeling you're pretty clever . . ."_

The gears in her head started whirring. Annabeth gasped. "Percy, the blade!" With a trembling hand, she unsheathed her knife, the scraping noise of bronze against leather ringing in her ears. _"The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap."_

Before Percy's cluttered brain could process her meaning, Kronos attacked. Without the curse of Achilles, Percy would've been sliced like salami under Backbiter.

Ethan Nakamura intercepted her path toward Kronos – Luke – and her attention was ripped in two between her attacker and her best friend. Blonde hair flying around her face, she whipped her head back and forth between the two battles. She saw Hephaestus's throne electrocute Luke, sending him sprawling onto the cracked marble floor.

Taking the chance, she kicked Ethan out of the way and rushed the Titan. "Luke, listen!"

Percy's face scrunched up in pain, fear, frustration, like he was dying to shout at her. She ignored his facial expressions and kept running. Kronos flicked his hand, and an invisible force slammed her into the throne of her mother. Black stars and white spots danced in her vision, tearing her between the choice to pass out and grit her way through the agony.

A scream ripped across the throne room. "Annabeth!" She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw to ward off the oncoming headache. Her mind felt like it was shredding itself, which she didn't like in the least – she needed her brains to survive.

She wavered between blackness and hazy images of the battle. Suddenly, clarity that was nearly painful jarred her, like a thousand-watt lightbulb was flashing on her muddled thoughts.

Riptide skittered into the open fissure and dropped into open air.

_NOW!_

"STOP!" She whirled over the fissured marble, cursed blade in hand, and drew on her last reserve of strength to catch Luke's strike on the hilt of her dagger and hold him at a standstill.

"Luke," she rasped, "I understand now. You have to trust me." _Please, please trust me._

Kronos bellowed in her face. "Luke Castellan in dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!" Her mental voice shrieked.

Her arms started trembling. "Your mother," she said hoarsely. "She saw your fate." She had to keep talking, talking to Luke, make him see reason . . .

"Service to Kronos! This is my fate." As much as the words stung her, Luke was speaking now. She was getting through to him.

"No! That's not the end, Luke. The prophecy she saw what you would do. It applies to you!"

"I will crush you, child!" Kronos roared. _Luke never called me child . . ._

"You won't," she insisted with a dead certainty. "You promised. You're holding back Kronos back even now."

It wasn't like her to be taking the persuasive approach when faced with an enemy.

It wasn't like her to be so insensitive, talking like this when she _knew_ Percy could hear it.

It wasn't like her to be doing _this_, but she was and she had to and it couldn't be changed.

"Family, Luke. You promised."

Gold eyes flickered blue, and Luke fought his way in and out control, raging an internal battle against Kronos that left his skin smoking and glowing gold.

Exhausted, she said, "The knife, Percy." The very effort of forcing out the words wore her down more than she could've imagined, physically and emotionally. Her breathing quickened and shallowed. "Hero . . . cursed blade . . ."

Understanding and prejudice flashed in his beautiful green eyes. Percy took her knife . . . and handed it to Luke.

He stabbed himself.

Annabeth shut her eyes and clenched her fists for all she was worth, knowing that when she opened her eyes Luke would be dead. Or close to dead, which wasn't any better. The throne room shook with the force of the explosion as the curse of Achilles was blown away.

It was silent for a long time.

She limped over to Luke's slumping body, praying he had time for his last words. Tears blurred her vision. She was thankful, because she didn't want to see the details, have them etched in her memory forever.

"Good . . . blade." His breath rattled emptily in his chest. "You knew. I almost killed you, but you knew . . ."

"Shhh," Annabeth whispered. "You were a hero at the end, Luke." It felt so relieving to call him by his real name, and know it was him that heard it. "You'll go to Elysium."

Feebly, he shook his head, smoldering blonde hair sticking to his face with blood and sweat. "Think . . . rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest." She touched her fingertips to his blistered ones.

"Did you . . ." Luke coughed, lips glistening red, and something sank in her chest. "Did you love me?"

The inevitable question.

She took a deep, rattling breath, searching for the right words to answer with. "There was a time I thought . . . well, I thought . . ." Her eyes locked with Percy's, and from the pleading, shock, and love in them she realized how to let it go.

"You were like a brother to me, Luke." Her voice carried softly around the room. "But I didn't love you."

Luke nodded, and something glimmered behind his defiant blue gaze.

Gray eyes met green, and the unspoken things in Percy's face assured her that she was right. He would be okay with it. He wouldn't hold it against her. The slate was wiped clean now, and there was no more guilt lingering between them.

They'd be . . . all right, if nothing else.

* * *

><p>It was pretty quiet that night. The diners slowly trickled away after their evening meal, leaving Percy sitting at the Poseidon table and staring at the moonlit lake.<p>

"Hey." She slid onto the bench next to him. It was becoming sort of a habit now. "Happy birthday."

Percy stared at the blue cupcake in her hands, uncomprehending. "What?"

Annabeth grinned. "It's August 18th. You're birthday, right?" For a second she was afraid she'd miscalculated and it actually _wasn't_ his birthday, but Percy assured her she was right by grinning that lopsided grin of his (which never failed to make her stomach flutter, but don't tell him she said that).

"Make a wish," she offered, holding out the gigantic cupcake.

"Did you bake this yourself?"

"Tyson helped."

"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," Percy said, examining his cake. "With extra blue cement."

Annabeth laughed. It felt good to hear something that didn't have to do with anger and pain and getting destroyed coming from her. It felt even better knowing Percy was the one making her laugh.

Tilting his head to the side for a moment, Percy blew out the candle.

She wondered what he'd wished for.

They sat in silence for a little bit, soaking up the sound of crickets chirping, monsters howling, the other campers' laughter, and eating blue cake until she voiced her thoughts.

"You saved the world," she started quietly.

"We saved the world."

"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody." _Hint hint, Percy. I know you're not really that dimwitted._

"You don't sound disappointed," Percy noted wryly.

She shrugged, feigning indifference. "Oh, I don't care," she said, a slight tease in her voice.

"Uh-huh."

Annabeth looked at him expectantly, raising an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"

"You'd probably kick my butt."

She mentally giggled. "You _know_ I'd kick your butt."

Percy dusted his hands off and started talking, watching her carefully. She kept her eyes trained on the horizon, looking at anything but him. His gaze was so intense she could practically feel it.

"When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable, Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."

"Yeah?" she asked, carefully controlling her voice.

"Then up on Olympus," Percy continued, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking –"

Annabeth recalled her panic at the possibility of losing Percy to Olympus. But her reply didn't show it: "Oh, you _so_ wanted to."

"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought – I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking . . ." Percy trailed off and cleared his throat.

"Anyone in particular?" she asked softly.

Practically everything depended on his answer now. Annabeth had known that he had caught on to the concept of dating her, but he hadn't done anything about it. Not yet, at least. She'd pretty much already made up her mind on the subject, but then again, she'd had to change it on short notice before.

Percy looked at her, seeing her trying not to smile. He pouted.

"You're laughing at me!"

"I am not!"

"You are _so_ not making this easy," he complained.

Well, that wasn't exactly the answer she was hoping for, but it was Percy's way of saying, "It's you," and that was good enough. Better than enough, really.

Annabeth laughed for real and pulled him around to face her, putting her hands on either side of his neck. "I am never, _ever_ going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it."

She kissed him, and it was a second before he realized what she was doing _right now_, and then he kissed her back.

"Well, it's about time!" a voice growled from behind them, rudely interrupting a heartfelt moment. At first, Annabeth thought there were more monsters trying to kill them, and resolved to destroy them in an extremely painful fashion before she realized what was going on.

Campers flooded the pavilion, carring torches and cheering. Clarisse charged in, followed by another group of eavesdroppers.

"Oh, come on!" Percy said, exasperated. "Is there no privacy?" _Oh, no, Seaweed Brain. Not in this world._ She should know; she'd done her fair share of spying on him, though hers was professionally executed (meaning she used her invisibility cap).

"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse shouted to the general kiss-crashing party, who cheered in response.

"The canoe lake!" Connor Stoll yelled, gleefully rubbing his hands together. Oh, she would _so_ get him back later.

They hoisted her and Percy on to their shoulders and carried them down to the lake, keeping them close enough to hold hands. Percy's face was flushed in the torchlight, and he was laughing embarrassedly. Then again, so was she.

Their hands were firmly clasped all the way up until the moment they got dumped in the water.

Afterwards, they stayed underwater for Zeus knows how long (scratch that; even Zeus probably didn't know) in Percy's much larger air bubble, which proved to be extremely hot at times. She'd never been kissed underwater before, and she loved the sensation of it.

Anybody who could do that pretty much killed her expectations by completely blowing them away. No, scratch that too. _Percy_ was the only one that could do that and kill her expectations by completely blowing them away.

Yeah, he was totally the one.

**Keep an eye out for the rewritten versions of chapters one and two, because, if you read through the whole thing, you'd have seen the horrifically ginormous difference between the first two chapters and the last two. If you like(d) it anyway, do please review.**


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